What Video Editing Software is good?

[Jenny]

Hi,

I'm very new to video editing.

I want to purchase some video editing software, but I need some help.

What video editing software do you people suggest?

I am looking in to Vegas Video 3.0.

• What I'm looking to do with the software:
  - Make short 3 to 10 minute web videos (for my website)
  - Put text and effects on the video
  - Add music to video
  - Combine videos
  ...among other things...

I'm looking for something that has lots of features and won't restrict me too much.

Any help would be appreciated :-)

Thanks,
JennyW

[ozzhead42]

I just use MICROSOFT MOVIE MAKER that came with windows ME, im pretty sure higher window have it also.


You can add music/combine movies/and more things but i havent realy looked i just know those things,you can also cut the movie in parts.

[ewingr]

I have been doing this for a couple months. I am using Adobe Premier. It is EXPENSIVE ($500 range), but very nice, full featured, and has lots of capabilities. Takes some effort to learn, but my impression is that it is phenominal.

[furwatup]

I agree with ewingr Premier is awesome, a little expensive. When I first got it I hated it, it was fairly hard to learn and takes tons of power to run I have a P3 1 gig hz with 384 mb ram and I do not run 1 other thing when I am using it or it drives me crazy but now I have learned how to used it enough to able to get some cool things done and the more I use it the more I like it.

[ewingr]

furwatup is right. Of course, it is my impression that any program you use to do this type of stuff needs a lot of power. There's a lot going on there.

I have a 1.7GHZ P4, with 768 MB memory, with XP. Lots of power...still takes time. If you're on an older system, prepare youself for letting the computer perform overnight activities.

BTW...I have a friend at work who has a 16 year old son, doing his thing in a band. He is creating a video with it that is AWESOME! It has a graphic of a butterfly floating around with band members trying to escape, pictures exploding, multiple layering of transparancies, etc. Very powerful.

[valzuniga]

I am also looking for something much less complex and expensive than Premiere. But still has the ability to do some ok effects to my videos, any suggestions?

[branch]

I suggest Editstudio from http://www.puremotion.com

Its excellent. It doesn't have that sucky miniature interface of premiere and doesn't cost a fortune. Its simple and easy to learn, and not that expensive.

And it has several nifty things. It uses layers. That means you can keep piling video on top of video, i don't think there is any limit to the number of video or sound tracks.

There are many effects you can do as transitions, and you can even handcraft your own wipes (by painting a matte in a paintprogram and use it as hole cutter).

You can scale your clips as well, say you drag one film in and background, then 4 clips you want to as animated "chapters", just resize them and place them on layers above the background, texts is easy as well you just 'key' it in.

Give it a try.

[mikerios]

Jenny,

Video Vegas 3.0 is one powerful program, adding tracks for audio is a snap, as well as combining video ( svcd is not supported yet on input, but it can output to svcd ) and other features you mentioned, it also does not have a steep learning curve but has numerous options that will keep you explorng the program for a long time to come.

[Jenny]

Thanks for the responses!

If I’m specifically looking to make/edit video files only for the web then does something like
SVCD or VCD concern me much?

Thanks,
Jenny :-)

[Rich927]

You might try going to Ulead's website http://www.ulead.com and download their VideoStudio demo. fairly decent program, low learning curve. Also look at MGI.com and pinnacle.com

[Rich927]

Forgot to mention. you can also try TEMPEGen, Virtualdub and VCDEasy all can be downloade from the Tools area of this site. All Freeware. A lot of folks here use these programs.

[EricB]

I like the ULEAD VideoStudio product for entry level. It is fairly straightforward and incorporates everything you need including the stuff for VCD which you might end up liking in the future.

If you stick with it, you will then see the benefits of a full featured program like Premiere. The learning curve is much steeper (as in "what the heck is this") when you start, but later you realize that you can do just about anything. It is particularly good with DV video. Premiere comes bundled with some firewire cards for much less than the normal retail price.